Watercolor by Design

Sunday, August 20, 2017

I am now able to unveil my latest watercolor project! I was commissioned to do a painting of a family villa in Italy. Of course, I tried to have them send me there to do research work but alas, I worked from photos only. I introduced a watermark effect in the foreground which is a family emblem located on a wrought iron gate to the family home. This home has managed to stay in the family for many centuries.

I took photos of the progression of the painting which I submitted along the way to my client for their approval.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

This is my latest painting. I worked on a very ambitious painting of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, France. I visited the monastery last year and it was amazing to see.

The day that I went there, it was an overcast, on the verge of raining kind of day. It was at low tide and approaching the site, there was a small sailboat embedded in the sand waiting for the water to come in to set it upright.

In this painting, I wanted to convey the mysterious feeling and age of this structure and the weather that day aided in trying to achieve that affect. I put a lot of texture into this painting and was also pleased with the sky. That was the first part that I had painting because if that did not turn out to my liking, I was not going proceed with the painting. But as luck would have it, and after some practice, it turned out just fine.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

For some of my paintings, I recorded their progress by taking photos along the way. I would like to share the steps it took to show the development of the painting to the final result. So below are photos showing the gradual progress to this painting that might give some insight for other artists.

When all was said and done, I was happy with the result. I did end up cropping a little bit off the bottom. Thought it made a better composition. As you can see, I also muted the background street scene to put more emphasis on the objects in the window. I will gladly answer any questions viewers have in addition to what is shown here.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Hello from New York City! Here are some photos from the AWS Awards Dinner at the Salmagundi Club which I was honored to of had my watercolor painting "Wisteria" accepted into this show. Oh, and yes, you are not seeing things. that is Tony Bennett at the affair receiving an award from AWS as an official honorary member. It was a wonderful night. I met Dean Mitchell, Joe Miller, and Lauren McCracken. I got a chance to have a conversation with Antonio Masi also. I came away with much inspiration. Looking forward to upping my game even more with my paintings.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

When I was in the Southern Region of France a few years ago, I was visiting a few medieval villages (as some of my paintings already show) and outside of one of the shops was this basket with hanging fuchsia and with this chalkboard sign that said "Bon Bons". I simply liked it and decided to do a watercolor. I learned something from this painting although it is not one of my best. What I learned will take me into an idea for another. Sometimes when you work on a painting that is more of an experiment and can be a stepping stone to another. There is so much to do and learn in watercolor.